Chao Yuezhi was a scholar of the Song dynasty. Publicly available information about his life, official career, and dates of birth and death is limited; all that is known is that one work by him survives, the Chao Family Mo Jing (Chao shi Mo jing), commonly classified under Eastern philosophy. Judging from the extant information, his writing centers on Mohist learning and belongs to the tradition of organizing and expounding the thought of the pre-Qin Mohist school. The Mo Jing deals with logic, epistemology, and ideas about the natural sciences; its language is terse and its terminology archaic, and it has long been regarded as difficult to read. Editors of such texts generally need to combine textual collation, glossing, and the clarification of philosophical meaning. Chao Yuezhi's book stands within this tradition and provides later readers with a textual basis for studying the Mo Jing. Because the sources are insufficient, his scholarly lineage, circle of associates, and range of influence cannot be described in detail, and assessments should be cautious. Overall, the work holds a place in the transmission of Mohist literature and is suitable for readers interested in the thought of the pre-Qin masters and ancient science.
